The Flywheel

Program for October 10th, 2008WE'RE AT LA STRADA'S RESTAURANT
in SAN PABLO!

Which way up?

Are you pleased with the way the Richmond Rotary Club
has been going? Do you have suggestions for projects,
speakers topics?

Prez Mark leads discussion of the club,
our projects, our finances, decision-making, things we
are doing and thing you would like the club to do in
the future.

MEETING OF October 3rd, 2008

Welcome, Invocation, Thought for the Day

President Mark Howe called the meeting
to order. Eric Gavidia from the East Bay Center for the
Performing Arts led the pledge of allegiance.

Visiting Rotarians

Aaron Gobler, President of the Rotary
Club of Albany, was a visiting Rotarian. As Rotary District
5160 webmaster, Aaron encouraged everyone to check out
the District web site, www.rotary5160.org,
and send him feedback.

Rotarians with Guests

David Brown introduced his guest,
Dave Moss, who will be filling out an application to
join Richmond Rotary.

EJ Shalaby’s guest was Mark
Grushayev, Project Manager for Veolia Water, which
has a contract with the City of Richmond to operate
its wastewater treatment plant. Mark will be filling
out an application to join Richmond Rotary.

Werner Schwarz’s guest was Laura
Patoly, a member of San Rafael Rotary.

Sunshine Report

Mark Howe asked for a moment of silence
to recognize the passing of Richmond Rotarian Bart
Wallace.

Announcements

Mark reminded everyone about the
Ghosts of Winehaven event starting at 12-noon on Friday,
October 31, at the historic Winehaven facility on Point
Molate. More details and tickets ($35
each).

Tracy Giles, President of El Cerrito
Rotary, expressed her Club’s pleasure in joining
Richmond Rotary for this special joint Club meeting.
Tracy also provided flyers on behalf of the Rotary
Club of San Francisco (Club # 2), which is celebrating
its 100th anniversary at a very special Gala Dinner
at the St. Francis hotel on November 9. Contact Tracy
at 510-528-8411.

Herb Cole announced that 10 Rotarians
and wives (including Herb, Sid Chauvin, Erle
Brown, and their better halves) are leaving
soon for a 10-day trip to China to accomplish, among
other things, assembly and distribution of wheel chairs. Jon
Lawlis is already there as part of the advance,
get-in-trouble-early group.

Norm’s Nonsense

On Life & Death:
Life is just a bowl of cherries, except at times
when it is just the pits.
Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.

Raffle Results

Cheryl Maier drew a white ball.

THE PROGRAM

On Stage!

Rhythm, lots and lots of toe-tapping, body-moving rhythm!
That’s what filled the large dining room at the
Mira Vista Country Club when the steel drum ensemble
from the East Bay Center for Performing Arts (EBCPA)
started performing. The group, named “Bloco”,
included EBCPA faculty instructors as well as four youngsters
who are taking classes.

Eric Gavidia, Director of Development at the EBCPA,
told us that the organization has been located in Richmond
for 41 years teaching music, theater, dance, and film
to about 2000 area youth annually in mostly after-school
programs.

Richmond Rotary is funding a one-year $1200 student
scholarship for the EBCPA along with $600 toward a second
scholarship. Tracy Giles of El Cerrito
Rotary presented a check for $100 toward the second scholarship
and our own David Brown, himself an
accomplished instrumentalist, also contributed $100.

The work of the EBCPA is all the more important because
arts education has been largely squeezed out of public
school curriculum in recent years. I’m reminded
of this quote from Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National
Endowment for the Arts: “The purpose of arts education
is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct.
The real purpose of arts education is to produce complete
human beings capable of leading successful and productive
lives in a free society.”